1. Field of the Invention
A safety mechanism mounted in the handle of a hand gun and specifically structured to cooperate with the handle or grip stocks disposed on opposite sides of the handle of the gun to the extent that the safety mechanism is manually positioned between a safety position and an operative position by forced linear movement along its own longitudinal axis and the operative components of the safety mechanism may be "disguised" in part as the manufacturer's emblem, logo, etc. found normally on medallions mounted externally on the handle or grip stocks attached to the handle of the gun.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, many prior art revolver type hand guns were absent any positive safety other than a firing pin block or like structure associated with the manufacture of a Smith & Wesson revolver. The firing pin block, as set forth above, is an automatic internal safety which serves to block the hammer from touching the firing pin prior to recocking of the hammer to initiate the next firing sequence. One important purpose behind the firing pin block is to prevent live round in chamber of cylinder from going off due to an accidental sharp blow to the hammer or gun being dropped on the muzzle. The lack of such a positive, manually actuatable safety mechanism and the inherent disadvantages associated with the absence of such a device is acknowledged in U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,557 to Murabito. The recognized problems associated with the design of such safety devices has been one of weight and space since a revolver has to be designed to have a minimum weight and space. Murabito acknowledges that known revolvers such a the "RUGER DOUBLE ACTION REVOLVER" available from Sturm Ruger & Company of Southport, Connecticut are provided with a thumb piece which is movable between a normally opened condition to a normally closed condition, but there is no intermediate or safety position.
Murabito attempts to overcome the problems recognized and existing in the prior art by structurally modifying to some significant extent a common type revolver hand gun such as the Model 10 Smith & Wesson. Such modification involves a structural adaptation of the cylinder latch which can still be used to open the cylinder and be capable of moving it to a "safe" position. In order to adapt a conventional revolver type hand gun, the Murabito invention requires that numerous metal parts and the frame, of the gun be modified substantially involving both time, expense and a certain amount of acknowledged skill in performing these required changes.
Accordingly, even in light of the disclosure found in the above-noted U.S. patent, there is still a need for a simplified safety mechanism capable of being easily applied to a revolver type hand gun without the requirement for performing significant structural alteration of the gun or its working components.